Swimming pool guard



NOV. 12, 1957 PlNCKARD 2,812,520

SWIMMING POOL GUARD Filed Jan. 5, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Haber? l-T P/hckard INVENTOR.

Nov. 12, 1957 R. F. PINCKARD 2,812,520

SWIMMING POOL GUARD Filed Jan. 5, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I I \I ll flfl| l l l l l "l I I. lul II I nl l ln l II I Nov. 12, 1957 R. F. PINCKARD SWIMMING POOL GUARD 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Robert E Pinckard Filed Jan. 5, 1955 INVENTOR. waiv- )Amnqs Nov. 12, 1957 R. F. PINCKARD 2,812,520

SWIMMING POOL GUARD Filed Jan. 5, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig. 9

Robert E Pinckard" INVENTOR. '1

United States Paten r 2,812,520 SWIMMING PoOL GUARD Robert F. Pin'clrard, Hialeah; Fla Dorothy Helen "Pinckard, admini'stratrix of said Robert F. Pinckard, deceased Application January 5, 1955, Serial No. 479,919

-1'Claim. '(Cl. #172) This invention generally relatesto asafety device and more specifically provides a swimming pool guard for positioning in an open swimming poolfor the protection of small children. 7

Incertain areas, the provision .otpriv-ate swimming pools on-an individual home owners property is quite common, and it sometimeshappens thatsmall children playing in the areas of open swimming pools may. accidentally fall into the pools anddrown beforeassistance can be: called 'or before the child is missed. .In an attempt to overcome this, certain laws and. ordinances have beenwpassed to require that a home owner having a swimming pool must enclose the pool with a'fence, in order to eliminate thelpossibility ofsmall :c-hildren falling into the pools and harming themselves. The provision of a-- fence in surroundingrelation to a swimming pool destroys the esthetic value of the pool as well as. cluttering. up the pool area. Also, various small. animals are prone to fall into the pool and drowmand it then becomes quite expensive to empty and clean the pool. Accordingl-y, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a swimming pool guard for preventing small children or stray animals from accidentally falling into and-remaining submerged in the pool. I

'Another object of the:present-invention is to provide a swimming pool guard including avertical movable member conforming to the bottom. of 'a swimming .pool

together withmeans for automatically raising and lowering the verticaly movable memberv upon actuation of a suitable control. a

Afurtherobject of thepresent invention is to provide a swimmingpool guard conformable to the preceding object in which the automatically vertically movable memher is actuated by the interruptionofan electric eye light 'beam by an object or body passing through the light beam, whereinthe light beam is positioned. at. the open upper end of thepool so that anything falling. intothe pool will actuate the movable memberwhereby-the movable "member will be moved to a.. position at theupper surface of the water in thepool.

Still another important object of thepresent inventi-on is to provide a vertically movable member which :may

be manually controlled so that the movable member may substantially coextensive and planar relation when raised to the top ofa swimming pool.

"Other important objects of the present inventioni'will reside 'in'its simplicity of construction, dependability, safety, ease'of manufacture and installation,'itsradaptability for. its purposes, and its relatively inexpensive manufacturing and maintenance costs. A These together with other objects and advantages which 3 2,812,520 Patented Nov, 1 2, 19 57 torn surfaceof the swimmfingtpoolg.

Figure 3 isan enlarged detailed;sectionaliview s'howing the. construction. of. one oftt'heldouble. pulleys and. a right angularly,disposed pulley for. .supporting .-the.fliiting cable; if.

Figure 4 is. a. diagrammatic; view of, the, wiring system utilized in. actuating. the .s'wirnrnirig-1.42601v .guard of presentinvent'ion; i FigureJS is alongitudinal,"verticallsectionallview similar to Figure '2 showing Lthewvert'ica'llQ moving members, .in elevated position; Y T I Figure 6. isv an venlar,ged,;. vertical :sectionalnviewi taken substantially upon a ,planepassingalong sectionjline. 6-1-6 of .Figure 1 showing. thedetail'sof construction ioflthe raising andlowering,.mechanism,ifor;,thewertically movablemembers; i I

Figure 7 is an. enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a corner of thes-vertica'llysmoving member showing thedetails of constructionthereot; i I 1 Figure 8 is. a v.ert'ica'l,..sectionaliview taken substantially upon the plane passing alon-g sect'ion line .8+-.- 8 of Figure 7 showing the manner of attaching .thenet; or 'rnesh members to-theramework .of.,the vertically moving members; .an'd

Figure 9 is a, sehematicperspective. view chime-swim.- ming .pooLguard dfihe presentjiinvention.showing the swimmingpoolin phantom.

Referring. now. specificallyv to, the; drawings, it will be seenthat the numeral..1!)..generally..designates,the swimthe bottom memberslll and,22 ,.a1ongwith ,the walls 14 a 8 are of a conventional swimming.poolconstruction wherein the:bottom:.slopes,inwardly.and .downwardly 'from each end .wall. .18.to a maximum; depthin. spaced relation to each ofathelend.walls..18..but.nearersoneicnd wall. than :the .otheiiend wall, Eurther,...one .of.the end walls may belonger'than the other.enthwallfor-providing two different depthsofrwater Min-the. pool 12 atheaclrend thereof. v.This. construction vof .the .swimming. pool has been setiorthin order. .to-describe;.theaswimmingepool .guard of ,:th e.;present invention -.'and Actua y iforms {I10 patttheredf. 7

Theswimrning pooltguardllflldflthe,presentsinvention generallyuinclukies a. pair-.of, frame members.,-,generally designated ,by. [the .humerals x26: and .48.. .Each ofi-ythe i rame. members =.26.-and 2 81am, .fiormedafrom a, g lurality of longitudinal rails 3'0 that'are in spaced parallel relationand rigidly secured 'in""spaced relation by a plurality of transverse rails 32'." The'frame'members 26 and 28 are independent of each other and each of the frame memberst26 and 28 is covered with criss-cross members 34 which form a net or mesh which will permit passage of water therethrough'but will not permit passage of objects of any size.

The longitudinal rails 30 and the transverse rails 32 I may be constructed of tubular pipe members of standard bottom portion 20 andthe framework 28 ispositioned flatly against the bottom portion 22 of the pool 12. In order to lift the framework members 26 and 28 from the bottom ofthe pool 12 to. the top thereof, an electric motor 46 is provided with a power shaft 48 having a plurality of drums 50 and 52 thereon which form winches for raising and lowering the frame sections 28 and 26. Secured to the drums 50 and 52 is a series of cables 54, 56, 58 and 60. The cables 54 pass over suitable idler pulleys 62 and 64 and pass downwardly at each corner adjacent one end. 18 of the pool and are connected to the outer corners of the framework 28 by a suitable hook which engages over the longitudinal.

rails 30. The cables 56 pass over suitable idler pulleys 68 and are connected to the corners of the framework 26 remote from the cables 54. The cables 54 and 56 are secured to the smaller and equal sized pulleys so that the movement of the outer ends of the framework members 26 .and 28 will be of substantially the same magnitude.

The cables 58 pass over suitable idler pulleys 70 and are secured to the adjacent ends of the framework members 26 and 28 at one side thereof for simultaneously raising the adjacent edges of the framework members 26 1 and 28. The cables 60 pass oversuitable idlers 72 com pletely down one side of the pool and around to the other. side thereof for attachment to the other side of the framework members 26 and 28 at the adjacent edges thereof in opposition to the cables 58. The cables 58 and 60 are attached to, the enlarged drums on the rotating shaft 48, thereby raising the sides of the frame members 28 and 26 in unison and moving the adjacent edges 7 of the framework 26 and 28 to a position at the upper edge of the water 24. Due to the fact that the cables 58 and 60 are secured to the larger diameter pulleys or drums, it will be seen that the adjacent edges of the framework members 26 and 28 will move at substantially a faster rate than the remote edges thereof and the movement of the adjacent edges is so related to the movement of the remote edges of the framework members 26 and 28 that both of the framework members 26 and 28 will be disposed in substantially a horizontal plane with the adjacent edges thereof overlapping, as illustrated in Figure 5, when the framework members 26 and 28 are raised substantially to the upper end of the pool 12, thereby assuring that any object within the pool will be disposed above the water surface.

Within the end walls 18 is a plurality of recesses 72 having mirrors 74 in the inner wall thereof for reflecting a light beam 76 emitted by a light 78 and adapted to be received by a photocell 80. This photoelectric set-up is connected to a relay cell 80 which will sound an alarm 82 and start the motor 46 when the light beam 76 is temporarily broken by the passage of an object therethrough. A suitable switch 84 may be provided for connecting the swimming pool guard 10 of the present invention to a suitable power source and other manual switches and 88 may be provided for manual operation of the motor 46 without utilizing the light beam 76 as a safety device. This is useful in elevating the frame members 26 and 28 to a position spaced below the upper water level of the pool 12 for permitting wading by small children without any danger thereto.

It will be seen that the various cables and' pulleys of the present invention are positioned within a longitudinal housing or casing 90, and the pulleys positioned on a horizontal axis at each corner and at each edge of the pool are mounted in a suitable channel-shaped member 92 on a horizontal axis 94, all of which may be of any well known construction. Further, the motor 46 and the various pulleys and shaft are positioned within a housing 96 to prevent possible damage to persons coming into contact therewith.

In practical operation, the framework members 26 and 28 may be constructed of any suitable lightweight pipe, such as aluminum tubing, and the webbing or mesh material may be of any suitable plastic, such as nylon, rubber or of plastic coated copper wire of suitable tensile strength, and is attached to the frame member to form substantially two inch squares. When the electric eye or photocell is activated, the alarm bell will ring and the electric motor will be energized, thereby raising the entire apparatus to a position above the water level of the pool in which the apparatus has been installed. The particular manner in which, the various elements are mounted is optional, and other types of lift mechanisms may be utilized for raising the frame members 26 and 28. Further, suitable means may be provided for automatically de-energizing the motor after it has raised the members 26 and 28 to their uppermost position but will permit continuous ringing of the alarm bell, if desired. Additionally, the relatively small weight of the framework members 26 and 28 permits the entire device to be easily raised out of the pool for vacuum cleaning of the pool or permitting other operations necessary in cleaning or repairing the pool.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of 'the device will be readily understood and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

In a swimming pool, a pair of guard frames normally disposed in said pool in downwardly converging edge to edge relation, cable and pulley means connected to said frames for simultaneously elevating said frames out of the pool into horizontal level position, a motor operatively connected to said cable and pulley means, and motor control means comprising a series of mirrors in each of two opposite sides of the pool staggered in one series with respect to the other to reflect a zig-zag beam of light across the pool, a source of light in one side of the pool projecting a beam of light against an end mirror of one series, and a photoelectric cell at said side of the pool in the line of reflection of the zig-zag beam of light from the other end mirror of said one series.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,091,909 Birmingham Mar. 31, 1914 1,101,166 Collins June 23, 1914 1,796,762 Paston Mar. 17, 1931 1,994,640 Giliasso Mar. 19, 1935 2,140,978 Beeby Dec. 20. 1938 2,649,591 McRae Aug. 25, 1953 2,701,881 McGee Feb. 15, 1955 

